Basketball
Quick thoughts on an 82-59 win at Rutgers:
Basketball How it happened
It was a near-perfect first half offensively for Indiana on Friday night at Jersey Mike’s Arena. With Tayton Conerway still hobbled with an ankle injury, Nick Dorn entered the starting lineup for the first time all season. The junior wing responded with 14 points in 16 minutes, including a 3-for-6 mark on 3s and a 5-for-5 performance from the free-throw line. Tucker DeVries, who showed signs of life late against Michigan, poured in 16 points in 18 first-half minutes on 6-for-11 shooting, including a 4-for-8 performance on 3s. DeVries also had seven rebounds and three assists. And Lamar Wilkerson was great, too, showing off his midrange game and going for 13 points in 12 minutes to go along with four rebounds. Overall, IU was 8-for-20 on 3s and scored 1.55 points per possession. If not for a 21-point outburst from Rutgers guard Tariq Francis, the Hoosiers may have built a bigger lead than their 47-32 advantage at the break.
Indiana opened a 20-point lead at 60-40 on a DeVries layup with 15 minutes left, but Rutgers answered with a 7-0 run to make it 60-47 with 13:04 left, prompting a timeout by Darian DeVries. By the under-12 media timeout, Indiana led 63-49 as Dorn made his sixth 3-pointer just before the break. Out of the timeout, back-to-back layups by Conerway gave IU a 67-51 lead and the Hoosiers led 69-51 at the under-eight media timeout with 7:39 to play. A 3-pointer by Wilkerson, IU’s 13th of the game, made it 72-53 IU with 6:41 left. A difficult turnaround by DeVries on the baseline with 5:23 left gave IU a 74-56 advantage. By that point, the game was out of reach, and the Hoosiers won for the first time in Piscataway since 2018, snapping their four-game losing streak.
Basketball Standout performers
Wilkerson led IU with 27 points on 5-for-11 shooting on 3s. Dorn had 23 points and made six of his 10 3-point attempts. DeVries had a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds and also dished out six assists. Sam Alexis finished with four points, 10 rebounds and six blocked shots.
Basketball Statistics that stand out
Indiana was 15-for-35 on 3s, scored 1.39 points per possession and only allowed Rutgers to rebound 24 percent of its missed shots. The Hoosiers only committed five turnovers. The Hoosiers also did a good job of defending without fouling as the Scarlet Knights managed a free-throw rate (FTA/FGA) of 24 percent.
Basketball Up next for IU
Indiana returns to Bloomington and will play rival Purdue on Tuesday at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Tipoff is set for 9 p.m. ET on Peacock and NBC Sports Network.
Basketball Final IU individual statistics
Basketball Final tempo-free statistics
Basketball Assembly Call postgame show
(Photo credit: IU Athletics)
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Read More Laine Pepper